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FIFTEEN, the sea never yields
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ASTER LET OUT A breath of relief when she saw the Coast Guard boat heading their way. The crew had picked them up, but were too busy to keep them for long. They had to deal with a disaster, and their radios were jammed with distress calls. Aster wouldn't be surprised to hear all those calls were a result of the earthquake that Hades had made when they escaped.
The boat dropped them off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around their shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people.
Aster was uncomfortably wet, and so were Grover, Annabeth, and Percy. She was a little surprised to see him wet, but he must've done it on purpose. It was probably better for him to be soaked than for the Coast Guard to question why they had picked up a perfectly dry kid miles from the shore. Percy was also barefoot, courtesy of Annabeth's idea to give his shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of them were barefoot than wonder why one of them had hooves.
After reaching dry land, they stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise. Aster felt heavy, as if she'd just come back from the dead—which she technically had.
Aster felt a hot anger settle over her. They had been tricked and sent all this way for nothing—just to die. The worst part about it was that she hadn't seen any of it coming. She felt stupid for not seeing what was right in front of her.
Aster glanced over at Percy, and her anger subsided slightly when she saw the melancholy expression on his face.
He'd left his mother behind. His support system, the woman who raised and loved him. By the way he had described her, Sally Jackson was a source of light to the world, probably one of the truly good people out there. She remembered the heartbreak when Aster had lost her father and ran away, but his pain must've been so much worse. Aster hadn't gotten the chance to save her father, but Percy had one for his mother. And he sacrificed it in order to save his friends and the world.
"I don't believe it," Annabeth said, staring at a burning Los Angeles. "We went all that way–"
"It was a trick," Percy interrupted. "A strategy worthy of Athena."
"Hey," she warned.
"You get it, don't you?"
Annabeth dropped her eyes. "Yeah. I get it."
"Well, I don't!" Grover complained. "Would somebody–"
"Percy..." Aster said finally. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so, so sorry..."
Percy ignored her, staring straight ahead. Aster pretended that she didn't see the tears lining his eyes. "The prophecy was right," he said. "'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."
